Barclays 2009 Annual Report Download - page 192

190 Barclays PLC Annual Report 2009 www.barclays.com/annualreport09
Presentation of information
Barclays PLC is a public limited company registered in England under
company number 48839. The Company, originally named Barclay &
Company Limited, was incorporated in England and Wales on 20th July
1896 under the Companies Acts 1862 to 1890 as a company limited by
shares. The company name was changed to Barclays Bank Limited on
17th February 1917 and it was reregistered in 1982 as a public limited
company under the Companies Acts 1948 to 1980. On 1st January 1985,
the company changed its name to Barclays PLC.
Barclays Bank PLC is a public limited company registered in England
under company number 1026167. The Bank was incorporated on
7th August 1925 under the Colonial Bank Act 1925 and on 4th October
1971 was registered as a company limited by shares under the Companies
Acts 1948 to 1967. Pursuant to The Barclays Bank Act 1984, on 1st January
1985 the Bank was reregistered as a public limited company and its name
was changed from Barclays Bank International Limited to Barclays Bank PLC.
All of the issued ordinary share capital of Barclays Bank PLC is owned
by Barclays PLC. The Annual Report for Barclays PLC also contains the
consolidated accounts of, and other information relating to, Barclays Bank
PLC. The Annual Report includes information required to be included in the
Barclays PLC and Barclays Bank PLC Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2009.
Form 20-F will contain as exhibits certificates pursuant to Sections 302 and
906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, signed by the Group Chief Executive
and Group Finance Director, with respect to both Barclays PLC and Barclays
Bank PLC. Except where otherwise indicated, the information given is
identical with respect to both Barclays PLC and Barclays Bank PLC.
The accounts of Barclays Bank PLC included in this document do not
comprise statutory accounts within the meaning of Section 434 of the
Companies Act 2006. The statutory accounts of Barclays Bank PLC, which
contain an unqualified audit report and do not contain any statement
under Section 498(2) or (3) of that Act, will be delivered to the Registrar of
Companies in accordance with Section 441 of that Act and are published
as a separate document.
Draft BBA Code for Financial Reporting Disclosure
In accordance with the agreement set out in the FSA discussion paper,
‘Enhancing financial reporting disclosure by UK credit institutions’, Barclays
confirms that it has complied with the draft BBA Code for Financial
Reporting Disclosure.
In October 2009, the British Bankers’ Association published a draft
Code for Financial Reporting Disclosure. The draft Code sets out five
disclosure principles together with supporting guidance. The principles are
that UK banks will: provide high quality, meaningful and decision-useful
disclosures; review and enhance their financial instrument disclosures for
key areas of interest; assess the applicability and relevance of good practice
recommendations to their disclosures acknowledging the importance of
such guidance; seek to enhance the comparability of financial statement
disclosures across the UK banking sector; and clearly differentiate in their
annual reports between information that is audited and information that
is unaudited.
The Group and other major UK banks have voluntarily adopted the
draft Code in their 2009 financial statements. The Group’s 2009 financial
statements have therefore been prepared in compliance with the draft
Code’s principles and the Group aims to continue to enhance its disclosures
in line with developing market practice and areas of focus.
Statutory Accounts
The consolidated accounts of Barclays PLC and its subsidiaries are set out
on pages 193 to 308 along with the accounts of Barclays PLC itself on
pages 209 to 211. The consolidated accounts of Barclays Bank PLC and its
subsidiaries are set out on pages 309 to 326. The accounting policies on
pages 193 to 203 and the Notes commencing on page 212 apply equally to
both sets of accounts unless otherwise stated.